The present invention relates to a protector for a plate-like peripheral device which is used by inserting into an insertion site of a predetermined objective equipment, more specifically, to a protector for protecting a card-shaped peripheral device to be inserted into a slot provided to a body of the objective equipment from mechanical impact shock, and electronic equipment which is used with such a protector.
There has been widely known a so-called PC card developed by the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Association) as a plate- or card-shaped peripheral device which is used with and disposed in a slot-like insertion site of predetermined electronic equipment. Examples of the PC card include a memory card incorporating therein a semiconductor memory in and from which various kinds of information can be written and read, an expansion card having the function as an adapter for a memory card smaller in size than the PC card and incorporating therein transmitting means and receiving means capable of transmitting and receiving information via a radio, and the like.
Such a PC card is used with, inserted into, and disposed in a slot formed in a chassis of a computer, and further, is widely applied to personal authentication, a communication modem, or the like in portable electronic equipment such as a note type personal computer, a PDA (abbreviating a personal digital assistant), or the like.
There have been known inconveniences that the capacity of the above-described PC card restrictively depends upon the depth of the slot in a configuration in which the entire PC card is contained inside of the slot with the PC card being inserted into the slot in the computer or that communications may be shut out in making the communications with the outside via a radio. In view of the above, in recent years, there has prevailed a PC card whose part (i.e., an end on a counter-insertion side) protrudes from the slot.
However, when the PC card is used while protruding from the chassis of the electronic equipment, there arise problems such as bending and breakage of the PC card body if an external force acts upward, downward, or sideways of the protrusion. Not only the damage on the PC card per se but also breakage of an inner terminal to be connected to a connection terminal at the tip of the PC card inside of the computer may be induced. In such a case, the computer body need be repaired, thereby raising a disadvantage to a user.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-283450 proposes one countermeasure against such a problem to be solved. Specifically, a protector including a holder for holding a PC card in engagement in an insertion direction, in which a bottom is brought into contact with an installation surface of the computer while the PC card is installed in a computer, is proposed as a protector for a PC card provided with an insertion site to be inserted into and disposed in a slot formed in a computer and a protrusion protruding outside of a chassis of the computer in the insertion state. The use of such a protector allows an impact force from above to be received at the installation surface, and therefore, the PC card can be suppressed from being bent or broken by the external force from above.
However, since the bottom of the protector is brought into contact with the installation surface of the computer in the configuration disclosed in the above prior art document, the PC card can be protected from the external force from above but this protection can be achieved only in a case where the computer is installed on the installation surface. When the computer is carried, satisfactory protection cannot be expected.
Specifically, while a user inadvertently keeps the PC card in the insertion site, the computer may be moved or carried in a bag. In such a case, the computer is not installed at the installation surface, and therefore, the above-described protector is uselessly disposed.
In addition, in this case, it is conceived that the PC card is liable to be subjected to the external force in not only a vertical direction but also a transverse direction. However, the configuration disclosed in the above patent document cannot achieve satisfactory protection from the action of the external force in the transverse direction.